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Centaur

2023 JY4

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(2023 JY4)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.214 AU
True anomaly
130.24°
Distance from Earth
7.175 AU
As of
11 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth 2023 JY4 — 7.214 AU from the Sun 2023 JY4
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2023 JY4 is 7.175 AU from Earth today (59.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
07h 20m 43s
Declination
+10° 57′ 20″
Constellation
Canis Minor
Distance from Earth
7.17 AU
Elongation from the Sun
88.87° — well clear of the Sun

Visible from both hemispheres.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
6.706 AU
Eccentricity
0.5595
Inclination
35.88°
Orbital period
17.37 years
Perihelion
2.954 AU
Aphelion
10.459 AU
Longitude of ascending node
266.5°
Argument of periapsis
68.74°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · CEN
Centaur
Earth MOID · 836.9 LD
2.1504 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.301

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
25
Data arc
185 days
First observed
2 May 2023
Last observed
3 November 2023
Residual RMS
0.36 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
16 November 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.04

Discovery & classification

Centaur

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2060-07-21 16:49:00 Juptr 1.2919 AU 502.8 LD 9 km/s
2091-03-04 13:54:00 Juptr 1.761 AU 685.3 LD 10.7 km/s
2179-03-19 06:58:00 Juptr 0.6972 AU 271.3 LD 10 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources